Pakistan NATO Helicopter Attack: 7 Troops Reportedly Dead

KHAR, Pakistan ? Officials say the death toll from an alleged NATO helicopter attack on a Pakistani army checkpoint near the Afghan border has risen to 15 soldiers.

A Pakistani government official and a security official say the dead from Friday night's attack in the Mohmand tribal area include two officers. They said Saturday that the attack also wounded seven soldiers.

The government official was based in Mohmand and the security official in Peshawar, the main city in Pakistan's northwest. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

NATO officials in Kabul said Saturday they were aware of the incident, and would release more information after they were able to gather more facts about what happened.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

KHAR, Pakistan (AP) ? Pakistan on Saturday accused NATO helicopters of firing on an army checkpoint near the Afghan border and killing seven soldiers, in an attack that is likely to further strain relations between Islamabad and U.S.-led forces fighting in Afghanistan.

The incident late Friday night came a little over a year after U.S. helicopters accidentally killed two Pakistani soldiers near the border, whom the pilots mistook for insurgents they were pursuing. Pakistan responded by closing the border to NATO supplies for 10 days until the U.S. apologized.

In a statement sent to reporters, the Pakistan military blamed NATO for the attack in the Mohmand tribal area. It said casualties have been reported but details were still coming.

Two intelligence officials and a government official said the attack killed seven Pakistani soldiers, including a major, and wounded five others. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

NATO officials in Kabul said Saturday morning that they were aware of the incident, and would release more information after they were able to gather more facts about what happened.

The checkpoint that was attacked had been recently set up in Salala village by the Pakistan army to stop Taliban militants holed up in Afghanistan from crossing the border and staging attacks, said two government administrators in Mohmand, Maqsood Hasan and Hamid Khan.

The Pakistan military has blamed Pakistani Taliban militants and their allies for killing dozens of security forces in such cross-border attacks since the summer. Pakistan has criticized Afghan and foreign forces for not doing enough to stop the attacks, which it says have originated from the Afghan provinces of Kunar and Nuristan. The U.S. has largely pulled out of these provinces, leaving the militants in effective control of many areas along the border.

____

Associated Press writers Riaz Khan in Peshawar, Pakistan, and Sebastian Abbot in Islamabad contributed to this report.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/26/pakistan-nato-helicopter-_n_1113832.html

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Chunky Concrete Sketch Pencil Is a Weighty Way To Write [Design]

Your sketches and notes will carry a lot more weight if they're created with this squat mechanical pencil that's made from actual hand-poured concrete. You'll just want to make sure you're not the type who likes chewing on the end. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/ykYB7uAD2ro/chunky-concrete-sketch-pencil-is-a-weighty-way-to-write

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NASA's Next Mission: Deep Space

The Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station in Antarctica is actually a great example, thanks for bringing it up. It's entirely dependent on the outside world for supplies except for air and water. Everything, and I mean everything is shipped in. There's no self-sufficiency to speak of.

We think of Antarctica as an inhospitable place, but it's a tropical paradise compared to anywhere we can land people in space. It has unlimited oxygen and and water, no dangerous radiation, earth normal gravity, unlimited water, vast mineral deposits, and temperatures that can be survived with nothing more than some warm clothing.

Nonetheless, if external support was cut off from the south pole station, then despite having all the existing buildings, infrastructure, machinery, and a staff of hundreds of brilliant scientists and researchers, everyone there would die.

Let me reiterate this: your examples of 'colonies' are all places where the people there are supported by enormous external supply chains, and would die if those supplies are cut off. On Earth, we can keep the supplies going because we can afford to, and because it's worth it -- the relatively low overhead of air freighting in everything is small compared to the valuable science that can be performed in Antarctica, or the money people are willing to spend to climb Everest.

All of these are expeditions, not colonies. They're not self sufficient, and it wouldn't be cost effective to make them self sufficient.

Shipping stuff on Earth is cheap. Air freight to a frozen desert in the middle of nowhere is a negligible overhead when compared to sending stuff to Mars. Even in the wildest, most delusional dreams of space fanatics, there is no way to do it for less than about $100 per pound.

Look around your house -- really look -- and for everything you see, ask yourself: how many pounds is that?. Could anyone afford to live like this if it cost $100 per pound more than it would otherwise? How many pounds of water do you use? How many pounds of air? What does your house weigh?

Try that again with the current, realistic cost of sending things to Mars of $10,000 per pound.

Source: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/HXncGstK-vY/nasas-next-mission-deep-space

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DNA Experts and Forensic Genealogists Team Up to Solve Alaskan Mystery (preview)

Feature Articles | Technology See Inside

New fingerprint- and DNA-identification techniques solve a mystery from a 60-year-old plane crash

By Colleen Fitzpatrick ?| November 25, 2011

TRAGEDY: It took nine years to identify the arm recovered from the wreckage of Northwest Flight 4422. No one knows what caused the crash. The plane was off course before it slammed into the mountain. Image: Lines History Department (airplane); Courtesy of Kevin A. McGregor, ? 1999 (man with camera); Courtesy of Roy Wittock (arm); Alaska State Troopers/AP Photo (van Zandt); Courtesy of Mike Grimm, Jr. (fingerprint)

In Brief

• More than 50 years after the 1948 crash of a Northwest Airlines plane killed all onboard, a desiccated arm and hand were retrieved from the scene.
• Initial fingerprint examination and DNA analysis of the arm and hand were unable to determine the identity of the remains.
• Researchers finally identified the remains after developing new techniques that may one day be used for disaster victims and unknown soldiers.

On March 12, 1948, at 9:14 p.m. Pacific Standard Time, Northwest Airlines Flight 4422 crashed into Mount Sanford, a peak in the remote Wrangell Mountains in eastern Alaska. All 24 passengers?merchant mariners returning to the U.S. from Shanghai, China?along with six Northwest crew members, probably died on impact. The debris, too difficult to reach, was quickly covered by snow and eventually entombed by ice.

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This holiday season, the tablet goes mainstream (AP)

SAN FRANCISCO ? `Tis the season of the tablet. Despite the gloomy economy, shoppers are expected to shell out for tablet computers this December, making them about as popular as candy canes and twinkling lights.

The glossy-screened gadgets are the most-desired electronic devices this holiday season. And, of all the gifts people are craving, tablets are second only to clothing, according to the Consumer Electronics Association. The industry group expects U.S. consumers to spend an average of $246 on electronic gifts, including tablets.

With help from his three siblings, Bob Cardina, 26, plans to purchase an iPad for his parents for Christmas. Cardina and his sister live in Washington. His parents live in Tampa, Florida. So he's excited to be able to video chat with his parents ? them on the new iPad, him on his iPhone. He thinks his mother will be especially happy with the gift. One of her friends has an iPad and she's "definitely taken a liking to it," he said.

To be sure, tablets were on some wish lists last year, but they were mostly prized by gadget geeks. In the past year, they have become more mainstream. Consumers have become comfortable using touch screens, especially as smartphones continue to proliferate. Tablets are popping up in unexpected places, too. Apple Inc.'s iPad in particular is being used as a learning tool in schools, a digital cash register in shops and a menu at restaurants.

In 2010, people were "trying to figure out what the whole tablet thing was about," says Gartner analyst Carolina Milanesi. "Now, people know what to do with a tablet."

For some people, the device has become indispensable for playing and working. While you can surf the Web, send emails and watch movies on a laptop or smartphone, consumers are gravitating to tablets because they can be more convenient.

The iPad is still expected to far outsell other tablets this year. According to Gartner Inc., nearly 64 million tablets will be sold worldwide by the end of the year. Some 73 percent of them will be iPads. By Gartner's estimate, Apple will sell 47 million iPads this year ? a figure it could certainly achieve, given that it sold 25 million of them by the end of September.

But while many think of the iPad as synonymous with the word "tablet," plenty of shoppers will be looking for a more affordable tablet to give this year.

Two of the most promising competitors come from online retailer Amazon.com Inc. and book seller Barnes & Noble Inc. The companies, major players in the e-reader market, recently released tablets of their own that undercut the iPad's $499 base price: Amazon's Kindle Fire, which costs $199, and Barnes & Noble's Nook Tablet, which costs $249. The Fire, which uses a heavily modified version of Google Inc.'s Android tablet software, is expected to be particularly popular with gift givers in part because of its low price.

"When you get below $200, sales go up dramatically," says technology analyst Rob Enderle.

Enderle thinks the Fire will be a popular gift, especially for kids. To him, it seems sturdier than the iPad with a display built from scratch- and crack-resistant Gorilla Glass, and it's cheap enough that parents won't be upset if a child manages to break it.

Tom Mainelli, an analyst at research group IDC, expects the Fire and Nook Tablet to take the second- and third-place spots, respectively, behind the iPad during the last three months of the year.

Rather than hurting Apple, he believes the success of newer tablets will help grow the entire tablet market.

"I don't think Apple loses just because Amazon wins," he says.

One of these Kindle Fire buyers is 24-year-old Ximena Beltran Quan Kiu, who purchased the device for her mother as a Christmas gift. Beltran Quan Kiu says her mom bought a Samsung Galaxy Tab for herself about a month ago, but didn't like it and returned it. She's hoping her mom warms up to the Fire, though, which she can use for reading, surfing the Web and watching movies.

To help make sure her mom likes it, Beltran Quan Kiu is also giving a year's membership to Amazon's express shipping program, Amazon Prime, which includes free streaming of more than 10,000 movies and TV shows and the ability to borrow certain books from Amazon's Kindle Owners' Lending Library.

"It might not be the iPad, but it can hold its own against the iPad," she says.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111124/ap_on_hi_te/us_tec_holiday_shopping_tablets

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Insight: In Greece, loan sharks compound the pain (Reuters)

ATHENS (Reuters) ? For self-made businessman Dimitrios, the threats began with a phone call from a man who said they knew where his daughter was.

At first the 57-year-old window installer kept quiet about the calls. When his car was torched in front of his house, he hid the blackened metal shell from his family.

But when he awoke to his wife's screams at a huge banner that had been strung across their street, he could no longer hide the truth. "I WANT MY MONEY BACK," the banner read. And Dimitrios knew the illegal loan shark to whom he owed thousands was not prepared to wait.

Greece's economic crisis has forced the government to cut public spending by tens of billions, slash salaries and raise taxes. Greeks have raided their savings. According to small Greek lender Attica Bank, around 50 billion euros ($68 billion) have been taken out of Greek banks over the past two years, much of that by middle class people, says its head of wealth management Theodore Krintas.

Around 185-190 billion of bank liquidity remains, he said.

But as it has become harder for many Greeks to do the weekly shop, let alone pay the rent on their businesses or the mortgages on their homes, there has also been growth in illegal lending.

One academic who tracks Greece's black market says loan sharks turn over around 5 billion euros a year in Greece. The government puts the figure at double that -- 10 billion -- and says activity has more than quadrupled since the crisis began in 2009. Of that amount, more than half stays in the pockets of the lenders, who charge interest rates starting at 60 percent a year.

Half of those who take on such loans have suffered property losses or a breakdown in their marriage, the government says. At least some committed suicide when they could not pay up. And always there is the threat of violence. A high-ranking official in the finance ministry's economic crime department told Reuters many of the operations are connected to Balkan organised crime gangs.

"Loan sharks are usually the last stop for someone trying to save their business from going under," said the official, who refused to be named. "And once you enter into business with them, you enter a spider web."

Dimitrios, who would not give his second name, agrees. "Loan sharks are not clerks in banks," he said, stirring a cappuccino in a central Athens hotel lobby, where he spoke to Reuters through an interpreter. "They are men who lift weights and carry guns. A lot of small businessmen turn to loan sharks. You think it's an easy way out but then your throat gets cut."

THE WINDOW INSTALLER

A tall, large-framed man with a mass of gelled grey curls, Dimitrios set up his window installation business 25 years ago in an industrial zone just outside Athens. Before the crisis his company had turnover of around 4 million euros a year, and made a steady trade using imported materials from Russia.

But after a fire at his factory, the father of two says he received only a third of the insurance money he should have, triggering a long period of financial troubles.

The business was also badly hit by customers using post-dated cheques. Greeks habitually date their cheques as much as six months into the future. They may not have the money now, they say, but they'll get it in a few months. The practice is legal but economists and bankers blame it for contributing to the country's plunge into bankruptcy.

According to credit databank Tiresias -- named for a blind Greek prophet -- cheques worth 3 billion euros bounced in 2009. That's 272 euros per person. Comparisons to other European countries are hard to come by as almost none issue cheques in the way Greeks do. But according to Schufa, Germany's main credit bureau, there were 3.5 billion euros worth of arrears on installment plans in that country last year. Germany's population is almost nine times bigger than Greece's.

The value of dud cheques in Greece slipped to 1.8 billion euros in 2010, but the problem is growing again this year. By September 1.65 billion euros of cheques had bounced, according to Tiresias, which is used by the Greek government to track the level of consumer debt.

Some banks recently stopped issuing cheque books, others have stopped making loans. As traditional sources of credit dry up, more people are likely to turn to loan sharks.

That's what happened to Dimitrios, who says a friend in his neighborhood put him onto his moneylender, saying he knew someone who had talked of people who could help him out. "I can't even bear to say his name," Dimitrios said of the lender now.

He wouldn't say how much he borrowed, but it was enough to pay his 40 staff and buy supplies after post-dated cheques totaling 1.5 million euros from his clients had bounced in 2009.

BALKAN CRIME RINGS

Evidence of loan sharks can be seen along the winding streets of Athens' historic center and the boulevards encircling it, where poorly photocopied pieces of paper asking "Need cash?" are stuck onto car windscreens and the city's yellow telephone booths.

Shaking his head in dismay, the finance ministry official says many have links to organised crime in the Balkans and Eastern Europe. "Everything is fronted by Greeks and it's very difficult to catch them," he said, adding that many sharks fake bank procedures or bribe lawyers for their services.

When Romania and Bulgaria joined the European Union in 2007, their criminal gangs gained easy access to Greece. The official said the gangs' main activity is trafficking women and heroin smuggling; lending cash is a side business. In a July report the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said human trafficking contributes to the money-laundering business in Greece, though it did not give figures.

A spokesman for the European Commission's representation to Greece declined to comment, saying loan sharks were not in their remit.

Friedrich Schneider, who tracks Europe's black market economies as chair of the department of economics at Austria's Johannes Kepler University, said loan sharking is a direct consequence of Balkan-originated crime in Greece. But Schneider puts the industry's annual turnover at around 5 billion euros, half the Greek government's estimate.

Greek authorities blame the Balkan crime rings for the proliferation of unlicensed pawn shops in greater Athens, an area home to around half the country's 11 million people. In the last two years their number has tripled to around 250 shops, the finance ministry official said.

While legal pawn shops -- currently numbering around 90 in greater Athens -- charge an interest rate of 3.75 percent a month on pledges, illegal ones charge between 5 and 20 percent. They appeal to the upper middle classes who have valuable jewelry. The official said the upper middle classes are attracted to unlicensed shops -- which are often in rundown areas of town -- to escape the gaze of their neighbors.

"We have tax after tax, and people are left no options," the official said. Loan sharks offer a 5 percent a month interest rate, which seems low compared with the 12-15 percent interest a year that banks and credit cards usually charge. But the power of compounding works quickly -- a rate of 5 percent a month ends up as 60 percent a year.

Most of the lenders deduct the interest before handing over the loan. "So if you've asked for a 10,000 euro loan, you get 4,000 upfront. And most desperate people do not walk away from cash on a table," the official said.

"I ended up paying back my loan 10 times," said Dimitrios, adding that his moneylender would demand a 50 percent interest on missed payments, dramatically increasing his debts. In a sudden twist of fate, the moneylender died earlier this year of a heart attack, ending the campaign of threats. Dimitrios is now struggling to pay off bank loans he took out after his troubles with the loan shark began.

EMOTIONAL TOLL

With more cuts on the way in Greece, and the risk increasing that the country will default or even exit the euro zone, the loan shark industry is likely to grow.

"The middle classes are scraping the very bottom of the barrel. All the money they stuffed away is gone," said Phaedon Tamvakakis, managing director of Greek investment services firm Alpha Trust.

More painful austerity measures will mean a crisis "that is no longer on an individual level. It will become a massive phenomenon," Tamvakakis said, warning that an entire stratum of Greek society could become impoverished.

This is taking a high emotional toll.

The health ministry says suicides are up 40 percent through October from the same period last year, most committed by middle-aged men. In a patriarchal society where fathers are expected to be breadwinners and provide for their families, the sense of personal failure and alienation is profound.

"Men experiencing a drop in income are especially affected by depression, leading to suicide or even homicide," said John Kyriopoulos, who heads the department of health economics at the National School of Public Health.

Of those who use loan sharks, only 5 percent manage to pay them back, according to the finance ministry official. But an equal number commit suicide. Around 30 percent -- borrowers such as Dimitrios -- pay part of their loans back.

"The time of the Olympics is over for Greece," Dimitrios said, referring to the 2004 Games which boosted national pride. "In Greece everything works the opposite of how it should. You must beg banks to get a loan, and beg the police to deal with a loan shark. I am a good man, but I am grateful my loan shark died."

(Editing by Simon Robinson and Sara Ledwith)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111123/wl_nm/us_greece_loansharks

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Japan emperor leaves hospital after pneumonia bout (AP)

TOKYO ? Japan's Emperor Akihito has left the hospital after being treated for a high fever and mild bronchial pneumonia.

Akihito, 77, left University of Tokyo Hospital on Thursday. He had been admitted on Nov. 6.

His eldest son, Crown Prince Naruhito, took over his official duties while he was ill. Palace officials said Akihito would resume his duties as soon as his health permits.

Akihito ascended the throne after his father, Hirohito, died in 1989. Since the end of World War II in 1945, Japan's emperor has a largely ceremonial function as the "symbol of the nation."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/japan/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111124/ap_on_re_as/as_japan_emperor

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'Breaking Dawn' lures packs of fans with $138.1M (AP)

LOS ANGELES ? "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn ? Part 1" put the bite on the weekend box office with a $138.1 million debut.

The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Sunday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Monday by Hollywood.com are:

1. "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn ? Part 1," Summit, $138,122,261, 4,061 locations, $34,012 average, $138,122,261, one week.

2. "Happy Feet Two," Warner Bros., $21,237,068, 3,606 locations, $5,889 average, $21,237,068, one week.

3. "Immortals," Relativity Media, $12,351,959, 3,120 locations, $3,959 average, $53,079,889, two weeks.

4. "Jack and Jill," Sony, $11,738,573, 3,438 locations, $3,414 average, $40,766,479, two weeks.

5. "Puss in Boots," Paramount, $10,804,311, 3,415 locations, $3,164 average, $122,391,873, four weeks.

6. "Tower Heist," Universal, $7,105,045, 2,942 locations, $2,415 average, $53,538,820, three weeks.

7. "J. Edgar," Warner Bros., $5,928,120, 1,947 locations, $3,045 average, $20,722,814, two weeks.

8. "A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas," Warner Bros., $2,902,434, 1,808 locations, $1,605 average, $28,335,280, three weeks.

9. "In Time," Fox, $1,710,692, 1,367 locations, $1,251 average, $33,454,533, four weeks.

10. "The Descendants," Fox Searchlight, $1,190,096, 29 locations, $41,038 average, $1,269,296, one week.

11. "Paranormal Activity 3," Paramount, $1,000,518, 1,402 locations, $714 average, $102,619,195, five weeks.

12. "Footloose," Paramount, $861,189, 1,218 locations, $707 average, $50,166,869, six weeks.

13. "Real Steel," Disney, $553,871, 702 locations, $789 average, $82,557,917, seven weeks.

14. "Like Crazy," Paramount Vantage, $522,352, 109 locations, $4,792 average, $1,767,358, four weeks.

15. "Moneyball," Sony, $512,387, 409 locations, $1,253 average, $72,641,291, nine weeks.

16. "The Ides of March," Sony, $460,272, 298 locations, $1,545 average, $39,100,143, seven weeks.

17. "Courageous," Sony, $430,493, 517 locations, $833 average, $32,338,471, eight weeks.

18. "Margin Call," Roadside Attractions, $423,554, 173 locations, $2,448 average, $3,915,791, five weeks.

19. "Martha Marcy May Marlene," Fox Searchlight, $384,642, 180 locations, $2,137 average, $2,258,429, five weeks.

20. "Melancholia," Magnolia, $337,530, 57 locations, $5,922 average, $709,212, two weeks.

___

Online:

http://www.hollywood.com

___

Universal and Focus are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of Comcast Corp.; Sony, Columbia, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount is owned by Viacom Inc.; Disney, Pixar and Marvel are owned by The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is owned by Filmyard Holdings LLC; 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight are owned by News Corp.; Warner Bros. and New Line are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a group of former creditors including Highland Capital, Anchorage Advisors and Carl Icahn; Lionsgate is owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC is owned by Rainbow Media Holdings, a subsidiary of Cablevision Systems Corp.; Rogue is owned by Relativity Media LLC.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/movies/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111121/ap_on_en_mo/us_box_office

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U.S. says giving, not selling, F-16s to Indonesia (Reuters)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? The United States is giving, not selling, two dozen second-hand F-16 fighter planes to Indonesia to strengthen security ties with an "important U.S. partner," the Defense Department said on Monday,

Elaborating on an announcement on Friday by the presidents of the two countries, the department said Jakarta would cover an estimated up to $750 million to refurbish the late-model fighters and overhaul their engines.

The F-16 C/D models are decommissioned and no longer part of the U.S. Air Force inventory. Retooled and upgraded, they will contribute to Indonesia's "interoperability" with the United States, Navy Commander Leslie Hull-Ryde, a Defense Department spokeswoman, added in an email to Reuters.

Interoperability is the extent to which military forces are able to communicate with each other and share information to achieve a common goal.

"Indonesia is an important U.S. partner and a leader in Southeast Asia," Hull-Ryde said. "The Department of Defense is working to support the Indonesian military in their efforts to modernize the force."

Developing ties with Indonesia, the largest country in Southeast Asia and the world's most populous Muslim-majority nation, is a priority for the Obama administration as it seeks to shape the economies and security of the region.

With arms transfers come training, closer military establishments and other ties.

The United States granted Indonesia, "without cost," the Lockheed Martin Corp aircraft and United Technologies Corp Pratt & Whitney engines, Hull-Ryde said, and the fix-up bill "is not expected to exceed $750 million."

President Barack Obama and Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono announced the planned F-16 transfer in a joint statement near the end of a nine-day Asia-Pacific tour that Obama used to reassert U.S. interests in the region.

The planes will give Indonesia a "much-needed" capability to protect its sovereign airspace "without compromising the defense budget and other national priorities," the White House said on Friday.

The Defense Department said the C/D Block 25 models will be brought back to "essentially the same capabilities they once had when actively flying in the U.S. Air Force."

The airframes are expected to be upgraded to meet the Indonesian Air Force's current needs, Hull-Ryde said. They are coming from the U.S. Air Force's Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group in Tucson, Arizona.

The transfer of advanced U.S. weapons will help establish a longterm security relationship, partly because the complex technology of U.S. equipment requires regular collaboration between the United States and its partners.

U.S. assistance creates "strong incentives for recipient countries to maintain good ties with the United States," Andrew Shapiro, who heads the State Department's Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, told a Washington audience earlier this month.

(Editing by Jackie Frank)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/usmilitary/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111121/pl_nm/us_indonesia_usa_f16

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Penn State names former FBI head to probe sex abuse (Reuters)

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) ? Penn State University trustees on Monday named former FBI director and federal judge Louis Freeh to head an independent investigation into the child sex abuse scandal that has rocked the university.

At a press conference, Freeh said the investigative team run by his law firm would examine gaps in Penn State's "control environment" and culture.

Jerry Sandusky, a former assistant football coach at Penn State, was charged this month with multiple counts of sexually abusing young boys over a 15-year period. Two former university officials were charged in an alleged cover-up.

The board of trustees fired legendary football coach Joe Paterno and Penn State's president for failing to tell police about the abuse once they learned of it.

Multiple investigations have been launched into what led to Sandusky's alleged crime and the university's response, including the one by the board of trustees that has now engaged Freeh and his law firm.

"We have to do an investigation that is perceived by everyone as fully impartial and comprehensive," said Ken Frazier, chairman of the trustees' special committee.

Freeh, who was FBI director from 1993 to 2001, has no connection to the university or even to the state of Pennsylvania, Frazier said.

Freeh said the team of investigators he has put together would include former FBI agents and assistant district attorneys, including some with experience in pedophile cases.

The team has established its own toll-free hotline for tips relevant to the case.

(Reporting by Dave Warner; Writing by Ros Krasny; Editing by Greg McCune and Vicki Allen)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111121/us_nm/us_usa_crime_coach_freeh

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"Dark Knight Rises" prologue hits theaters December 21 (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) ? Filmmaker Christopher Nolan is finally ready to remove the shroud from his much-anticipated final "Batman" movie.

While the director's "The Dark Knight Rises" isn't due in theaters until July 20, fans will be reunited with Bruce Wayne -- and rival Bane -- via a prologue hitting IMAX screens December 21, Empire magazine reported Monday.

Nolan told the British film magazine that the prologue is "basically the first six, seven minutes of the film" and will serve as "an introduction to Bane, and a taste of the rest of the film." (Representatives for the movie's studio, Warner Bros., weren't available for further comment or confirmation.)

Nolan also told Empire that "The Dark Knight Rises" would be set eight years after its predecessor.

Christian Bale's hero is "an older Bruce Wayne; he's not in a great state," Nolan said. "Perhaps surprisingly for some people, our story picks up quite a bit later, eight years after 'The Dark Knight.'"

The filmmaker also discussed the movie's villain.

"With Bane, we're looking to give Batman a challenge he hasn't had before," Nolan added. "With our choice of villain and with our choice of story we're testing Batman both physically as well as mentally."

The "Dark Knight Rises" prologue will be screened in advance of Paramount's "Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol" and be rated PG-13.

This isn't the first time Warner Bros. has whetted Batman fans' appetites in this fashion.

In December 2007, the prologue to "The Dark Knight" was shown along with some IMAX screenings of the sci-fi film "I Am Legend."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/movies/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111122/film_nm/us_darkknight

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'I Tawt I Taw A Puddy Tat': Mel Blanc's 1950s Sylvester And Tweety Song Remastered For 3-D Short

In theaters this weekend alongside "Happy Feet Two" (in 3-D, naturally) is a marvel of modern remastering -- a Sylvester and Tweety short called "I Tawt I Taw A Puddy Tat," scored with the spiffed-up voice of the original Sylvester and Tweety, Mel Blanc, who died in 1986. In an interview with Blanc's son Noel, NPR dissects the career of one of our least-known "method actors," who also voiced Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig and Daffy Duck:

"Blanc even went so far as to visit real pigs to figure out Porky Pig's voice and Tasmanian devils to breath life into the infamous spitting and sputtering eating machine, Noel says. Bugs Bunny, the ever outsmarting rabbit, was modeled on the tough attitudes and accents of Brooklyn and the Bronx in New York."

Noel, who managed and directed his father, called the 3-D resurrection of Blanc's 1950s hit "mind-boggling." We've got the short below, and for more on Blanc's career, click over to NPR.

WATCH:

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/20/i-tawt-i-taw-a-putty-tat-short_n_1103918.html

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Pusha T Calls 'What Dreams Are Made Of' Clip 'Arrogant'

Fear of God II: Let Us Pray video pays homage to Ronald Reagan, G.O.O.D. Music rapper explains on set.
By Nadeska Alexis

Pusha T
Photo: Neilson Barnard/ Getty Images

Pusha T's full-length solo debut won't hit shelves until 2012, but in the meantime, the G.O.O.D. Music rapper will continue to release singles and accompanying videos from his November EP, Fear of God II: Let Us Pray. MTV News caught up with Pusha on set in Brooklyn, New York, this month where he explained the concept of the "What Dreams Are Made Of" video, set to debut soon.

"Fear of God II: Let Us Pray is all about street music, and it's really for my fans, 100 percent just for my fans," Pusha began. "If you love what I'm about and what I've been doing all these years, then it's for you, and I'd be cheapening [the project] if I didn't shoot a video for one of the harder records off of the EP," he added, referring to "Dreams."

"[The video] is arrogant, it's a bit brash, it's about excess, fast living and articulating a lifestyle, a lifestyle that we know very well," the Virginia rapper elaborated, before digging deeper into the track's meaning. "Lyrically, it's about how our people fell victim to drugs, but it wasn't all our fault: [Ronald] Reagan had a lot to do with that; don't just blame us."

In one segment of the video, Pusha is perched on a chair reminiscent of a throne, surrounded by champagne and a few illegal substances that pop up fairly often in his music. The most-surprising item in the scene, however, is a jar full of jellybeans, which are intended as a tribute to the former president. "Ronald Reagan was an avid jellybean lover, so we've got to pay homage to him. We have to: He had a lot to do with this," Pusha explained. "The Ronald Reagan era was a tough time and a detrimental time to the black community, but we adapted."

To clarify, Pusha explained that his music isn't usually inspired by Reagan, but "Dreams" does bear a direct reference to him. "I have a very mean couplet in this song that describes what Reagan did and how Nancy [Reagan] tried to be down too, so we decided to showcase that with the jellybean."

After the premiere of "What Dreams Are Made Of," Pusha plans to roll out a few more videos from Fear of God II, depending on the schedules of the rappers featured on his songs. "I'm so passionate about a lot of the records that I definitely want to shoot a couple more [videos]," he said.

Which Fear of God II song would you like to see Pusha make a video for? Share your pick in the comments below!

Related Artists

• Pusha T

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1674805/pusha-t-what-dreams-are-made-of.jhtml

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US official: China constructive on disputed waters

U.S. President Barack Obama meets with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit in Nusa Dua, on the island of Bali, Indonesia, Saturday, Nov. 19, 2011. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

U.S. President Barack Obama meets with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit in Nusa Dua, on the island of Bali, Indonesia, Saturday, Nov. 19, 2011. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

U.S. President Barack Obama meets with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is seated at right on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit in Nusa Dua, on the island of Bali, Indonesia, Saturday, Nov. 19, 2011. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

U.S. President Barack Obama meets with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit in Nusa Dua, on the island of Bali, Indonesia, Saturday, Nov. 19, 2011. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

U.S. President Barack Obama smiles at reporters as he walks with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton after the plenary session of the East Asia Summit in Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia, Saturday, Nov. 19, 2011. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton arrives as U.S. President Barack Obama is seated at the East Asia Summit in Nusa Dua, on the island of Bali, Indonesia, Saturday, Nov. 19, 2011. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (AP) ? China signaled a gradual evolution toward resolving quarrels with its Asian neighbors over disputed waters of the South China Sea, a senior U.S. administration official said Saturday, describing the development as an encouraging step forward in easing tensions over the busiest trade route in the world.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao offered a measured response after 16 of the 18 leaders attending a major Asian summit raised the issue of maritime security, primarily on the South China Sea. The topic has been a thorny issue, with China laying claim to all of the sea, while several Southeast Asian nations claim parts of it.

The U.S. official said Wen seemed reluctant to discuss the dispute during a retreat by the Asian leaders, but responded after President Barack Obama raised it.

The official spoke to reporters aboard Air Force One on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive diplomatic subject. Obama and Wen talked Saturday in a surprise meeting on the sidelines of a major Asian summit, focusing on the economic matters that have prompted disputes between the two major world powers.

The session was not a formally planned moment of diplomacy but rather a late add-on to let the two men continue their conversation from a group dinner the night before.

The South China Sea disputes were discussed only briefly in that meeting, officials said. Instead, Obama and Wen focused on topics such as China currency.

"We have a very complicated and quite substantial relationship with China across the board," White House National Security Adviser Tom Donilon told reporters after the one-on-one session.

"We do have economic issues, they are around the proper contribution that the Chinese make to global growth and that goes to currency and other policies," he added.

Donilon said Obama stressed the importance of China adjusting the value of its currency, which the United States contends is deeply undervalued. He said Obama and Wen also briefly discussed territorial disputes in the South China Sea toward the end of their meeting.

But Donilon also downplayed tensions between the two powers, saying the two countries also have found vast areas of agreement.

The Wen-Obama meeting and the subsequent discussion by Asian leaders about the South China Sea came on the last leg of Obama's nine-day Asia-Pacific trip, in which he has focused on bulking up America's presence in the region, including setting up a Marine task force in Australia, in moves largely seen as hedges against China's rise.

A commentary run by the official Xinhua News Agency on Saturday suggested China was uneasy but not alarmed over the renewed U.S. focus on Asia.

"Actually, China as well as other Asian nations never considered the United States had left the Asia Pacific and had never tried to squeeze it out of the region," said the piece, which carried the headline: "U.S. return to Asia raises more questions than can answer."

The commentary noted that the U.S. was trying to court some Asian countries, a clear nod to recent U.S. overtures toward Myanmar, and was interfering in long-standing regional disputes, an apparent reference to U.S. military support for the Philippines as it confronts China in increasingly tense disputes in the South China Sea.

"If the United States sticks to its Cold War mentality and continues to engage with Asian nations in a self-assertive way, it is doomed to incur repulsion in the region," it said.

China has been angered by the U.S. stand that it has a stake in security and unhampered international commerce in the disputed territorial waters of the South China Sea. Wen had told a meeting of Southeast Asian nations on Friday that "external forces should not use any excuse to interfere" in territorial disputes in the sea.

China claims all of the sea, while several Southeast Asian nations claim parts.

Donilon said the United States, as a maritime power, wants territorial disputes resolved peacefully.

"We do believe they should be resolved in accordance with international norms and international law," he said.

Wen's portfolio, though, is chiefly economic, and that is where his conversation with Obama focused, Donilon said. The United States and China have been tussling over China's currency, and over intellectual property. Obama has been challenging China to operate with a greater sense of international rules.

Donilon rejected suggestions that the nine-day mission in the Asia-Pacific was designed to thwart a rising China. The U.S. policy, Donilon said, was about rebalancing U.S. interests and focusing once more on the Asia-pacific region.

"This has nothing to do with isolating or containing anybody," he said.

____

Associated Press writer Alexa Olesen in Beijing contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2011-11-19-Obama-China/id-03ebc1ca7b9644cc81889598b07c4923

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Report says iOS 5.0.2 may finally fix iOS 5, iPhone 4S battery issues (Appolicious)

Since the launch of the iPhone 4S last month, one of the major issues users have been reporting is a short battery life in the device. However, a new report says Apple is working to fix it again.

It?s a big deal for Apple. The company prides itself on providing long battery life in its mobile devices as one of their selling points. But with the iPhone 4S specifically ? and with devices running the newly released iOS 5 operating system in general ? battery life seems to have diminished for many users, and Apple has blamed the mobile operating system.

Apple has responded to reports of shortened battery life for the iPhone 4S by trying to tweak iOS 5?s software with an update, marked as iOS 5.0.1. That update dropped last week, but things didn?t get better because of it. In fact, some users reported that battery life was made even worse on their devices. And while the issue seems to be most noticeable for iPhone 4S owners, it appears as though battery issues have become something of a more widespread problem as the software has gotten spread around to more of Apple?s mobile devices.

But Apple is still on the case, and is preparing another update, according to a story from PC World. Apparently, Apple is cracking away at another iOS 5 update (iOS 5.0.2) which is intended to really fix the battery life problem, for real this time.

In fact, according to German website Macerkopf, where the story originated, Apple is aiming for 40 hours of battery life when the iPhone 4S is in standby and 10 hours of active use. That sounds a lot more in line with Apple?s usual battery performance record, and it?s not at all far-fetched to expect that Apple really is currently working on another update, given that it has already acknowledged that battery issues remain.

More updates for Siri on the way?

The report also suggests that another new update is coming for iOS 5 that will include some specific new features for the iPhone 4S. Macerkopf reports that iOS 5.1, the first major iteration of the software, will include a few improvements to the iPhone 4S-specific Siri voice-activated personal assistant software. Already, Siri has APIs that allow it to interact with other services the iPhone includes, like maps and web searches.

In iOS 5.1, apparently, Siri will be able to control taking photos and shooting videos when prompted by your voice. It will also be able to do more simple things like switching on and off your Wi-Fi or Bluetooth connections.

But iOS 5.1 is probably a ways off yet. It likely won?t be released until the end of the year, Macerkopf says. In the meantime, Apple has that battery issue to deal with. Hopefully the fix works this time.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/applecomputer/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/appolicious_rss/rss_appolicious_tc/http___www_appolicious_com_articles10255_report_says_ios_5_0_2_may_finally_fix_ios_5_iphone_4s_battery_issues/43648362/SIG=13l1tvgse/*http%3A//www.appolicious.com/tech/articles/10255-report-says-ios-5-0-2-may-finally-fix-ios-5-iphone-4s-battery-issues

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Hemingway continues anti-suicide effort with role (AP)

NEW YORK ? Mariel Hemingway says her greatest mission in life is to survive a family with a suicidal history.

For the past decade, the actress has been busy promoting suicide awareness and speaking on how lifestyle choices can affect mental well-being. She'll do just about anything to prevent a suicide. That's why her appearance in the cult film sensation "Archie's Final Project" ? formerly known as "My Suicide" ? comes as no surprise.

"There's been at least seven suicides in my family, so obviously appearing in the film had great significance for me," Hemingway said in a recent interview.

Her older sister, Margaux, and famed novelist grandfather, Ernest, are among her losses. While Hemingway attributes their deaths partly to chemical imbalance, she blames them mostly on lifestyle choices.

"Creative families such as the Hemingway's tend to have substance abuse, they tend to have depression, and all kinds of things," Hemingway said. But she added, "There are lifestyle choices you can make that can at least lessen the severity."

As for the film, "Archie's Final Project" deals with teen suicide though the irreverent lens of a disenfranchised high school student. Rather than presenting it as a drama, the film takes a cheeky, comedic approach. But underneath those laughs lies a serious film that attempts to raise awareness.

And it's succeeding. Through social media, the film has prompted a national conversation about the signs of teen suicide and how to deal with them, including the IamAnArchie awareness and prevention campaign.

Directed and co-written by David Lee Miller, the film tells the story of Archibald Williams (Gabriel Sunday), who announces that his final school video project will be filming his own suicide. Before long, Archie captures more attention than he could have ever imagined.

Through cynical dialogue, Archie recounts the rather clueless suicide interventions he receives, including a guidance counselor who thinks a lollipop can fix the problem.

Hemingway feels it's important to tackle the subject this way, especially when given its teenage audience.

"Because there's a lack of a sense of future when you're that age, there seems to be this very dramatic response that life doesn't seem to make sense," Hemingway said.

Recently, there's been increased attention paid to teenage abuse problems, including an anti-bullying campaign featuring celebrities and athletes. "Archie's Final Project" sets out to deliver the same message, but with a different tone.

The film's snappy dialogue, animation, and quick cuts may be regarded by some as unconventional, yet it speaks fluently to its target audience. Conceivably, every teenager could be Archie, just as everyone can know an Archie.

The 26-year old Sunday, who also co-wrote and edited the film, plays the title character. He made the film when he was in his early twenties, and feels its appeal lies in its realistic depiction of teens and their struggles. "Movies and mainstream media treat teens as emotionless and clueless ... but this film honestly portrays them," Sunday said.

Hemingway agrees that irreverence helps get the point across.

"As serious a message as they are getting, they're resonating with the humor," she says. "Still, it's a powerful statement that pulls the wool off of everybody's eyes and says, `take a look, kids are really unhappy.'"

At the heart of the film is a quasi-love story between Archie and Sierra (Brooke Nevin). She's the most popular girl in school, but also someone who carries a deep, dark secret of her own.

Hemingway plays her barbiturate-popping mother.

"I'm probably the most obnoxious character," Hemingway said. "She's awful, but she's an important voice she's somebody who's completely in denial."

While both witty and serious, Sunday sees the film as more than an anti-suicide film.

"It's more about life because of the way we embrace the topic," Sunday said.

According to Sunday, that approach has some teen suicide organizations worried. "This film has no in-between audience, you either love it or hate it," Sunday admits. "But 15- and 16-year olds are loving it."

The suicide rate among teens is currently on the rise after a lull during the mid-1990s, according to the American Foundation of Suicide Prevention. Miller attributes the increase to an overload of information.

Hemingway agrees: "I didn't grow up like them. I didn't grow up having access to any information I want via the Internet. ... They have too much information, and a lack of experience to absorb it."

The film was made three years ago and survived on the festival circuit, where it's won more than a dozen awards, yet no distributor would touch it.

But along the way, it gained momentum with special showings, and in September, the film had a limited release in New York, Los Angeles, and Santa Fe after AMC agreed to distribute it.

Now, it's a social media sensation and on Dec. 6, it will be released on DVD.

___

Online:

http://www.archiesfinalproject.cpm

http://www.facebook.com/archiesfinalproject

http://www.twitter.com/IAmAnArchie

___

John Carucci covers entertainment for The Associated Press. Follow him at http://www.twitter.com/jcarucci_ap

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/movies/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111118/ap_en_mo/us_film_mariel_hemingway

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Cain Points Finger at DC (TIME)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/163881791?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Stan Lee dreams up new heroes for the Web (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) ? Stan Lee is aiming his powers at the Web, where the legendary creator of Marvel comic characters such as Spider-Man plans to take on the superhuman task of making profitable shows for an online audience.

The former Marvel Comics editor-in-chief told Reuters this week that he has high hopes for a new YouTube project called "Stan Lee's World of Heroes" that he is tackling with his current company, POW! Entertainment.

Starting in 2012, he plans to fill his YouTube channel with short, live-action videos and animation, and Lee said his company has over a dozen of those Web projects in the works.

His new move onto the Web comes as Hollywood has struggled to make a profit creating original productions online.

The Walt Disney Co, for instance, saw little success creating such shows through its online venture, Stage 9, but in a sign the entertainment industry is still looking to experiment on the Web, Sony Pictures Entertainment continues to promote original "webisodes" on its site, Crackle.

One the most successful models has been independent comedy site Funny Or Die, which mixes short parody videos starring celebrities with amateur content.

Now, the 88-year-old Lee said the Internet is ready for more of his brand of content, namely superheroes of all stripes.

"The Internet is so much bigger, and it's so all encompassing and everybody is involved in it," Lee told Reuters in a phone interview. "Years ago, it was just getting started. This is the perfect time for us to dive in with both feet."

Lee founded POW!, which stands for Purveyors of Wonder, in 2001 after he left Marvel. He was given the largely honorific title of chairman emeritus at Marvel in 1998.

STAN AT PLAY

So far, none of the characters Lee has dreamed up at POW! have come close to achieving the worldwide fame of the heroes he helped create in over five decades at Marvel Comics, which included Spider-Man, The Fantastic Four and Thor.

Lee said he could reveal few details about the characters he is planning to unleash on his YouTube channel. "There will be some with super power, and there will be some that are just good stories of people doing good things," he said.

But fans can look to his more recent efforts for clues. Lee's company produced a movie called "Lightspeed" about a government agent who gains the ability to move fast. It came out on DVD in 2007. His reality television show "Who Wants to Be A Superhero?" aired for two seasons on cable network the Sci Fi Channel.

"I don't feel I'm working, I feel as though I'm playing," said Lee, who holds the title of chief creative officer at POW! "There are guys 100-years-old who can't wait to get to the golf course. I can't wait to get to the office."

Gill Champion, president of POW!, said the cost of producing a show for the Web ranges from $500,000 to $2 million, which is much less than the tens of millions it can cost to produce a feature film with superhero characters and special effects.

If one of the series of short videos each lasting a few minutes online -- where viewers have short attention spans -- proves popular, it could be pieced together to create a full-length show that would air on TV, Champion said. Revenue could also come from paid sponsorships of Web shows, he said.

This is not the first time Lee has focused on the Web. His "Time Jumper," which he created in 2009 as a digital hybrid between animation and comics, has been sold on iTunes through a distribution deal with Disney.

His latest venture sees him partnering with digital studio Vuguru, which is overseen by former Disney CEO Michael Eisner.

"I am hoping everything we're doing at POW! will be as good or even better than what I did at Marvel, because I'm more experienced now," he said. "I know more now than I knew then."

(Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/internet/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111117/en_nm/us_media_stanlee

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Cancer's sweet tooth may be its weak link

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have discovered that cancer cells tap into a natural recycling system to obtain the energy they need to keep dividing. In a study with potential implications for cancer treatments, Einstein researchers used genetic manipulation to turn off this recycling system within the walls of cells and stop both tumor growth and metastasis (cancer spread). The findings were published in today's online edition of Science Translational Medicine.

Scientists have known that cancer cells require a large amount of energy in the form of glucose (sugar) to support their abnormally rapid growth. But it wasn't clear how cancer cells met those energy needs. The study shows that cancer cells fuel their growth by revving up autophagy, a recycling process that occurs in cell compartments called lysosomes.

During autophagy, which literally means "self-eating," Pac-Man-like lysosomes digest worn-out proteins and other damaged cellular components. "But lysosomes are not merely trash containers," said Ana Maria Cuervo, M.D., Ph.D., the paper's senior author and professor of developmental and molecular biology, of anatomy and structural biology and of medicine. "They are more like little recycling plants in which cellular debris is transformed into energy. Cancer cells seem to have learned how to optimize this system to obtain the energy they need."

Dr. Cuervo and her colleagues detected unusually high levels of chaperone-mediated autophagy, one of the types of autophagy, in cells from more than 40 types of human tumors ? but not in healthy tissue surrounding the tumors. (In chaperone-mediated autophagy, small proteins guide debris to the lysosomes for digestion.)

"When we used genetic manipulation to block the activity of this recycling process, the cancer cells stopped dividing and most of them died," Dr. Cuervo said. "We also applied this procedure to tumors in mice, resulting in dramatic tumor shrinkage and almost complete blockage of metastasis."

The researchers believe that selectively blocking this type of autophagy in cancer cells could be a useful strategy for shrinking tumors and halting metastasis. "In future research, we hope to develop drugs that can mimic what we have done using genetic manipulation," said Dr. Cuervo. "We are also exploring using genetic manipulation itself for treating different types of lung cancer."

###

Albert Einstein College of Medicine: http://www.einstein.yu.edu

Thanks to Albert Einstein College of Medicine for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/115257/Cancer_s_sweet_tooth_may_be_its_weak_link

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Apple launches iTunes Match cloud music service (Appolicious)

After months of waiting, another big piece of Apple?s cloud offering has finally been released to the public: iTunes Match.

You might remember the name from way back at Apple?s Worldwide Developer?s Conference 2011 in June, when then-CEO Steve Jobs announced the service as part of Apple?s iOS 5 operating system. Along with iTunes in the Cloud, iTunes Match allows users access to their music wherever they are, with the use of several different devices.

Unlike Google Music or the Amazon Cloud Player, both streaming music services where users upload their actual music tracks to a cloud server and then stream them back to various devices, iTunes Match includes minimal actual uploading. Instead, iTunes scans users? music libraries and ?matches? all the tracks that are contained in Apple?s servers. Anything you purchased from iTunes goes in automatically, and anything else is matched by the system to give you a high-quality 256 kilobits per second version of the track, regardless of whether your copy is of a lesser quality.

Anything from your library that Apple doesn?t have in its iTunes servers and can?t match gets uploaded to Apple?s cloud servers, which still gives you access to your tracks even if you didn?t purchase them from iTunes. And with iTunes in the Cloud, you?re capable of seeing every track you?ve purchased with the service and can redownload it at will (instead of just streaming with iTunes Match). As Mashable pointed out in its review of the service, you can create playlist and smart playlists on your iOS devices, and iTunes in the Cloud will share them with your other devices, like your computers (and vice versa).

According to PC World, however, there are still some limitations on the iTunes Match service. Unlike Amazon or Google?s cloud music services, iTunes Match doesn?t yet support big music libraries ? users are limited to 25,000 songs apiece for their $25 per year cost of entry. However, anything you buy from iTunes doesn?t count toward that total; it?s only tracks that you haven?t purchased through Apple. Also, at least for now, iTunes Match is only available in the United States.

The plus side is that iTunes Match allows die-hard iTunes users a cloud alternative to the services offered from the likes of Google, Amazon and players like mSpot. Services offered by iCloud mean that Apple users don?t have to keep a ton of music tracks stored on a machine for all eternity: New cloud-based services mean that if you?ve got a reliable Internet connection, you could presumably ditch all your stored copies of songs and just stream to your heart?s content.

Apple?s iCloud service and all the things that go with it are the latest iterations of its MobileMe service, but despite their similarities, it seems Apple has rethought how it handles the cloud after the relative failure of the MobileMe service. Whereas that service handled lots of different things like calendars, tasks, email and so on (many of which are still handled by iCloud), when it comes to a subscription service, Apple is streamlining its approach down to just music and perhaps some other pieces of purchased content. In this way, it seems that Apple will be able to (hopefully) avoid service interruptions and keep customers satisfied as they transition to the cloud. It?s likely that iTunes Match will be a popular service if Apple has learned from its mistakes and runs iTunes Match as well as it seems like it will.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/internet/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/appolicious_rss/rss_appolicious_tc/http___www_appolicious_com_articles10209_apple_launches_itunes_match_cloud_music_service/43607555/SIG=130268fp5/*http%3A//www.appolicious.com/tech/articles/10209-apple-launches-itunes-match-cloud-music-service

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iTunes Match review: Not made in heaven

Apple

By Rosa Golijan

Apple took its sweet time when it came to launching a cloud-based music service?? and the longer we waited, the higher our hopes got. Unfortunately iTunes Match turned out to be anything but a trip to cloud nine.

Yes, that's an awful pun?? but the point stands. While iTunes Match sounds solid on paper, it's not exactly ready for the real world just yet.

What exactly is iTunes Match anyway?
iTunes Match is a $25/year service designed for people who use multiple iTunes-enabled or iOS-powered devices. It?allows you to access your music library from the cloud ??without having to upload every single song or repurchase media.?Songs you've bought on iTunes, imported from CDs and copied from friends can all become easily accessible from all your devices.

Songs which weren't purchased through Apple are compared against the iTunes Store's 20-million song catalog. If there's a match, then you don't have to worry about uploading anything and?you'll automatically have access to a 256-Kbps AAC DRM-free copy ??even if your original song was of lower quality.

If there's no match, you'll have to twiddle your thumbs for quite a while and wait for your song to upload to Apple's servers.

Once all that's done though, you'll be able to listen to your songs from your iTunes-enabled computer, iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch almost instantly. (There's a very brief delay?? a second or two, depending on your data connection?? as each song begins to download.)

What's great about iTunes Match?
When it comes to songs purchased through the iTunes Store, iTunes Match is absolutely fantastic. They all ? yes, even the shameful purchases of the past???appear as soon as you enter your Apple ID and password.?No fuss, no muss. (In theory, it's also great with all your other songs?? especially if you're itching for copies encoded at a decent bit rate. Emphasis on that whole "in theory" part.)

One of the particularly great things about iTunes Match is that you can use it as a backup solution. Once your songs are matched or uploaded, you can comfortably delete the originals?? copies will remain in the cloud.

iTunes Match makes your entire cloudified library appear as if it's on your computer. You can tell if a song is saved locally by checking to see if there is a cloud icon next to it or not.

What's really lousy when it comes to iTunes Match?
While iTunes Match sounds solid on paper, our experiences with it weren't all song and dance.

For starters, the service doesn't take on any users who have over 25,000 songs in their iTunes libraries. For me this meant that I had to create a separate mini-library just for the sake of testing things out. (It also means that I'll probably avoid using iTunes Match after completing this review.)

Users with huge libraries aren't the only one's suffering though.

Msnbc.com's Josh Belzman emailed me when he noticed that 12 hours had passed and the twelve thousand songs in his library still hadn't finished getting matched and uploaded. I managed to clear out my entire email inbox while waiting for my thousand-song mini-library to finish the process. (For what it's worth, we're still optimistic that the matching and upload process is so agonizingly slow simply because the service just launched and Apple's servers are struggling to keep up with all the new users.)

iTunes Match doesn't seem to be consistent when it comes to recognizing songs which aren't purchased through Apple. I noticed that a great number of meticulously and correctly tagged songs?? which I confirmed are available in the iTunes Store?? didn't get matched and instead were added to the upload queue.

Why will iTunes Match make some iOS users cry?
Some iOS users will be extremely annoyed when they discover that activating iTunes Match on their devices means that they have to give up the music already stored locally. You basically have to snatch all the songs you want to keep via iTunes again.

So should I get iTunes Match?
If you don't use multiple iTunes-enabled or iOS-powered devices, the answer is almost an instant "no." (Unless you're really desperate to match your songs up for?256-Kbps AAC DRM-free copies.)

If you do use multiple iTunes-enabled or iOS-powered devices, but have more than 25,000 songs in your library, the answer is a definite "no."

If you do use multiple iTunes-enabled or iOS-powered devices, have fewer than 25,000 songs in your library,?and are looking for a way to easily back up and sync your music, then by all means: Go for it.

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Want more tech news, silly puns or amusing links? You'll get plenty of all three if you keep up with Rosa Golijan, the writer of this post, by following her on?Twitter, subscribing to her?Facebook?posts, or circling her?on?Google+.

Source: http://technolog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/11/16/8837931-itunes-match-review-not-made-in-heaven

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Brad Pitt to Retire From Acting, Have More Kids With Angelina Jolie?

Is Brad Pitt already thinking about retirement and full-time daddy duty?

Maybe, and sooner than you might think. In an interview with Australia's 60 Minutes, the Moneyball star revealed an exit strategy planned for his great career.

It involves the half-century mark. When asked how much longer he would like to keep on acting, the 47-year-old answered fairly succinctly, "Three years."

That doesn't mean he wants to be absent from the industry altogether. But Pitt says he plans to step off-camera and get behind it, if at all, by age 50.

"I'm really enjoying the producing side and development of stories," Pitt says. "Getting the stories to the plate that might have had tougher times otherwise."

Something he may not be ready to say bye to? Procreation! "You know, I don't know that we're finished," Pitt says. "I don't know yet. I don't know."

Even with six children, Pitt says he "obviously" enjoys the chaos and that all the running around, and even the lack of sleep is fine with him right now.

"Those late nights are so fun when one of them's up or those mornings when they get up and make pancakes or something. That's what it's all about."

Indeed. Watch out, Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar.

[Photo: WENN.com]

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2011/11/brad-pitt-to-retire-from-acting-have-more-kids-with-angelina-jol/

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